Outsourcing homeschool math during high school is a game changer! Check out our experience using Mr. D Math Algebra II.
Over the years, homeschooling my children has taken up more and more of my time. More students, higher grade levels. Read-alouds. Teaching. Marking. Extra help. Taxiing kids from piano lessons to athletics, and now even part-time jobs!
One thing that has gotten increasingly hard for me is being an effective math teacher. The lower grades were no problem! But the further we go in math, the more difficulty I have trying to remember and relearn concepts I’ve long forgotten. And with multiple students needing me to teach, help, and correct work, I was ready to throw in the towel.
We were ready to try something new. And I was more than ready to outsource math for high school. I decided to hand over the work of teaching and marking my high schooler’s math to Mr. D Math.
This post is sponsored by Mr. D Math. I received access to this course and was compensated for my time. As usual, all opinions are my own.
What is Mr. D Math?
Mr. D is Denis DiNoia, an educator with over 30 years of experience, who left the public school system to create his own online, high school math curriculum. His curriculum has expanded to include upper elementary math classes, language arts, life skills, music & dance, test prep and more! Mr. D’ and his team of teachers offer both live online and self-paced courses.
Mr. D. Math Algebra II Self-Paced Course Review
My daughter chose the self-paced option for Algebra II because she really values the freedom of homeschooling with the flexibility to create her own schedule and work at her own pace.
How Mr. D Math Works
Like Mr. D Math’s other math courses, Algebra II is broken down into 12 chapters and further into various topics. Each chapter has a video lesson, printable course work as well as a printable copy of the fully worked problem solutions, and a quiz. There are also two exams to evaluate your student’s learning. Your student will need to have completed an Algebra I course and Geometry before taking Algebra 2.
Mr. D Math is fully online, and students can choose to print out worksheets, tests, and quizzes or work them out off the screen. So far, my daughter has chosen not to print them out, which made me happy to save the paper!
Algebra II Chapter Breakdown
- Equations and Inequalities
- Linear Relations and Functions
- Systems of Equations and Inequalities
- Matrices
- Quadratic Functions and Relations
- Polynomial Functions and Relations
- Inverse and Radical Functions and Relations
- Exponential and Logarithmic Functions and Relations
- Rational Functions and Relations
- Conic Sections
- Sequences and Series
- Probability and Statistics
Our Experience using Mr. D Math for High School
Mr. D Math’s self-paced courses use video lessons, which we greatly prefer to written, textbook lessons. With video lessons, you can pause, rewind, or rewatch as often as necessary. Mr. D never gets tired of repeating himself!
Mr. D. Math is really set up to allow your student to work independently – right from the start! The first time she logged into her course, my daughter quickly found introductory videos that showed her how the course was set up and how to use their platform. She didn’t need me to show her around or give her any instructions at all. All I had to do was pass on the login information and she could jump right in!
Mr. D Math’s courses have a major advantage over our previous curriculum because if/when my daughter needs extra help, has questions, or is otherwise just not grasping a concept, she has access to support that is not mom or dad! She can attend the live help sessions via zoom or even email a teacher to get help that way.
What We Liked About Mr. D. Math
- Self-paced learning
- Video lessons
- Fosters independence
- Access to support
- Easy on mom: no marking!
- Uses a mastery-based approach
- Incorporates some review
What We Weren’t Crazy About
- Sometimes Mr. D talks really fast!
- Students are able to retake quizzes and exams to improve their marks
These are the only two things I could come up with! And both were super easy to adjust to our preferences and meet our needs.
If your student finds Mr. D a little too fast, they can easily pause or rewind since the lessons are on video. You can even adjust the playing speed of the video to your preference. And I love how a video teacher never minds having to repeat themselves (unlike mom!)
Since I’d rather my daughter not repeat her tests to get better grades, I just told her to keep her first results and talk to me if she’s unhappy with how she does. Call me old-fashioned, but retaking every test feels like cheating.
Outsourcing math with self-paced or live classes is a game changer for homeschooling high school. It helps make homeschooling more doable for those more challenging high school years.
Mr. D Math has freed up my time to focus more on other subjects with my high schooler and to work with my younger students. It’s also been a huge relief to be able to hand off teaching a subject that I struggle with teaching well at higher levels.
If teaching high-school level math isn’t your cup of tea, or you’re looking for something new for math, check out Mr. D. Math!
Math Courses Currently Offered by Mr. D. Math:
Live Courses:
- Preparing for Pre Algebra
- Pre Algebra
- Algebra 1
- Geometry
- Algebra 2
- Pre Calculus with Trigonometry
- Calculus 1
Self-Paced Courses:
- Preparing for Pre Algebra
- Pre Algebra
- Algebra 1
- Geometry
- Algebra 2
- Pre Calculus with Trigonometry
- Calculus 1
- Consumer Math
Other Courses Offered by Mr. D. Math:
- American Sign Language
- College and Career Readiness
- Economics
- Language Arts
- Athletics
- Music & Dance
- Study Skills
- Technology (courses provided by MyTek Labs)
